Guest post written by Such Lovely Skin author Tatiana Schlote-Bonne
Tatiana Schlote-Bonne has an MFA in creative writing from the University of Iowa. When she’s not writing, she’s either gaming, lifting heavy weights, or teaching people how to lift heavy weights. Such Lovely Skin is her debut YA horror novel, which you can purchase here.
Such Lovely Skin is about a Twitch streamer who ends up haunted by a doppelganger after she confesses her darkest secret to an “NPC” in an evil video game. When I was developing the idea, I wanted to write a fun, fast-paced story with an eerie atmosphere that follows the familiar yet satisfying twists and turns of my favorite horror movies. This sent me on a quest to find new cursed-object and techno-horror films and return to some of my favorite scary movies from childhood.
Stay Alive
You Die in the Game
You Die for Real
I watched Stay Alive as a kid in 2006 when it first came out and it’s been a favorite of mine since. The film’s fictional video game is creepy with twitchy dead children crawling on the mansion’s walls, and there’s plenty of fun lore with the story’s take on Elizabeth Bathory. I love how aspects of the game bleed into the real world as the characters start to die in real life the way their avatar did in the game. Stay Alive pulls off some genuine scares while not taking itself too seriously, and it’s so much fun to watch.
Cam
When her account is stolen by a look-alike, a cam girl sets out to unmask the mysterious woman and get her identity back. When I was writing the first draft of Such Lovely Skin, I told a friend how I was working on a novel about a Twitch streamer who has a doppelganger and there’s a scene where she sees herself streaming, and he said “Oh! It’s like Cam!” I hadn’t heard of this movie before and immediately dropped everything to go watch this hidden gem, which you should do as well. I especially love the protagonist’s drive for cam girl stardom and how she has to outsmart her copycat. Creepy, smart, and so underrated.
The Ring (2002)
A journalist must investigate a mysterious videotape which seems to cause the death of anyone one week to the day after they view it. This has been one of my favorite movies since it gave me full body terror when I was ten years old. The initial concept of Such Lovely Skin was basically What if The Ring and Stay Alive had a baby? There are a couple scenes in my debut that are homages to this horror classic.
Friend Request
When a college student unfriends a mysterious girl online, she finds herself fighting a demonic presence that wants to make her lonely by killing her closest friends. While drafting, I was a bit caught up in the logistics of how a demon would program and control a computer program, and Friend Request reassured me that it doesn’t really matter. This German film is one I found from Googling “horror movies featuring the internet.” With the tagline “Evil is Trending” and a 17% on Rotten Tomatoes, it’s a so-bad-it’s-good take on a cyber haunting, and definitely worth watching!
It Follows
After a strange sexual encounter, a teenager finds herself haunted by nightmarish visions and the inescapable sense that something is after her. Apparently, 2014 was ten years ago but I still remember the feeling of dread this movie gave me in theaters. Disasterpeace’s brilliant pulsating synth soundtrack makes the entity in this film feel inescapable and like it’s right behind you, creeping closer. I listened to the It Follows soundtrack on repeat while drafting and it’s my spooky-mood go-to.
